A Brief History Sagaya Madha Church, Thuraipakkam located on the Old Mahabalipuram Road is 6 kms away from Thiruvanmiyur and 10 kms away from Santhome Cathedral Basilica. Around 40 years ago, Parish Priest of Kovalam Fr. K.M. Joseph had a humble beginning by erecting a small hut for the people of Thuraipakkam to have their religious services, at the same place where we want to build the new Church. Services at the hut continued even after inaugurating the new church in Perungudi in 1984. In 1999, Fr. Mathew Vettical put efforts in declaring Thuraipakkam church as a substation after replacing the hut to a concrete structure and was inaugurated by Rt. Rev. Dr. Lawrence Pius, Auxiliary Bishop of Madras – Mylapore and dedicated to the Mother of Perpetual Help. Later Fr. Thomas Mundackal expanded the church both sides to satisfy the growing needs. In 2007 Church was elevated to an independent parish with further extensions and blessed by Most Rev. Dr. Neethinathan, Bishop of Chingleput on 25thMarch 2007, when Fr. Patrick was the Parish Priest of Perungudi. Fr. Joseph Sengol’s contribution in making this place getting the Independent parish is inevitable. Fr. Arockiaraj became the first Parish Priest of the independent parish.

Present Status

Over the years there was a considerable number devotees have increased and present church is not able to accommodate their needs.

Catechism, Evening tuitions for the poor in the locality and other religious organizations are not finding enough space to gather and function well.

Rainy seasons bring leaking issues since the existing Church was altered in the past and it is not in good condition to alter again.

Our parishioners are going to other Churches as the result of space crunch.

Major religious events and other ceremonies are becoming chaotic due to space.

New Church

New Church has been planned for a built area measuring 12000 Sq Ft having two levels. First floor is meant for religious worship purpose and the ground level is for multipurpose.

We, Sagaya Madha Parish family request your kind self to contribute generously towards rebuilding the Church and get blessed abundantly. Our parish family is confident to get contribution to complete this noble purpose from kind hearts.

As a first step towards a future without bus conductors, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) will introduce smartcards by March next year. Adyar and OMR will be its trial routes.

The corporation has placed an order for 6,000 electronic ticketing machines (ETMs) that can be used to swipe smartcards as well as dispense tickets. The smartcards can be topped up by a conductor or at a bus depot. “We will also authorise third-party agencies to recharge the cards, like prepaid phone cards,” said a senior official at the secretariat.

Once the entire system is in place, commuters will be able to use their smartcards across all modes of transport — buses, trains and metro rail — without worrying about getting change or buying separate tickets. Authorities will know, in real time, the demands of passengers in different sectors in the city.

The plan is to have passengers tap their cards as they enter the bus, which would not have a conductor. “We will run this as an experiment on OMR as it has the highest number of Volvo buses and passengers on this route are more open to change,” said the official. About 100 ETMs are on trial now.

Those buying monthly passes will be the first to get smartcards. MTC’s system will be compatible with that of the upcoming metro rail. “We are finalising the specifications, and will float the tenders for smartcards soon,” said the MTC official. MTC has about 10,000 conductors on its rolls, and once the system in place they will be used to conduct surprise checks and inspections.

Initially, MTC’s smartcards will be offline and ticketing information will be stored locally on the ETM. “Till CMRL sets up its system, our smartcards will just be validated by ETMs,” said a source.

Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has been pushing for an elaborate common ticketing system. It will offer smartcards for regular users and tokens for one-time users. “We are working on a system that will accommodate all the players,” said an official. CMRL will be able to monitor their patronage in real time with this system.

Metro rail had proposed a common smart card for electronic fare collection as per international standards. “The challenge is to split the revenue with the department concerned. We are waiting for a response from others,” said the CMRL official.

In Kochi, Private Bus Operators’ Association last month introduced a smartcard system on a pilot basis in 40 buses on the Ernakulam-Kakkanad route. In Bhubaneswar, city bus operator Dream Team Sahara introduced smartcards for commuters on October 10 to deal with the problem of coin scarcity. Several western countries use smartcards that work across different forms of city transport.

FOR SMOOTH OPERATION: NO MORE TICKETS TO RIDE

Electronic ticketing machines | 6,000

Smartcards to be issued soon

To be used first on OMR

Those buying daily, monthly passes to benefit

Smartcards will be recharged at depots, by agents

Ticketing information such as time, distance, number of tickets sold will be stored

Once metro rail is operational, same card can be used across bus, auto, call taxi, train and even for parking

System will go online and authorities can get real-time information on usage

Independent body will be set up to collect revenue and split it with different departments

Chennai:When youspend25% of your day stuck in traffic, what do you do? Find an online forum to rant.Closeto 6,000 people are members of the ‘I hate commuting on OMR’ page on Facebook.

“There are so many of us who work at one of the offices on OMR and live far away. Four hours of our life every day is spent on commuting from home to office and back. This is a forum for us to vent our frustration,” readsthedescription.

The biggest complainers are the ones who use private vehicles. “I live in Thoraipakkam and I hate getting out of my house between 6pm and 8pm or 9am and11am!Ittakes me more than one hour to reach Thiruvanmiyur signal!” posted AnirudhJRon the page.

“Vehicles come in the wrong direction, there is no respect for signals, people cross roads at their whim and fancy,” postedDeepakParab.

While users of the page blame pedestrians for the traffic mess, the government is pushing for better public transport as the solution. MTC is improving services in the locality so that more people take the bus, and fewer private vehicles clog the road.

“It is impossible to reduce traffic congestion as long as people use private vehicles,” said ShreyaGadepalli, regional director at Institute of Transportation andDevelopmentPolicy.

Around 1.6 lakh people in the IT and BPO sectors work on OMR. “Another 30,000 support staff make their daily commute. This stretch accounts for 70% of the IT sector in Tamil Nadu,” saidKPurushottam,senior director atNASSCOM.

Officialsfrom theTamilNadu Road Development Corporation, which maintains the road, said they built the road thinking it would be able to support thetrafficfor 20 years.The road wasopenedin October 2008. “In 5years,the roadhas reachedits saturation point. We have no clueon how many moreITcompanies are going to come up,” said an official.

Earlier this year, chief minister J Jayalalithaa announced a 45km elevated corridor between Madhya Kailash and Mammallapuram. “Consultants to study the feasibility of this projectwillbechosen in the next two months,” said a TNRDCofficial.